The power of the Chinese regime and the “deaf-mute” caste

The disappearance of businessman Bao Fan explains a lot about how the bourgeoisie developed in China and how it was tied to political power.

Contrary to the strength that the Western business community has shown since its inception, in the Asian giant that class was weak and fearful since its appearance in the Republic of China (1912-1949), founded by Sun Yat-sen after the overthrow of the Qing, the last imperial dynasty.

Decades later, when former President Deng Xiaoping launched the economic reforms that opened up the country, big capitalists emerged from the CP. That means, it is an estate born in the shadow of political power which, over time, after having built huge fortunes, becomes the main threat of a top-down and authoritarian regime, without a belt for dissent. It is this symbiotic relationship that helps to understand why these sudden “disappearances” of tycoons occur in the country.

An emblematic case is that of Jack Ma, founder and owner of Alibaba, the Chinese Amazon. In late 2020, in an unusual speech before several PC bishops at the Bund summit in Shanghai, accused the local financial system of having a “pawnshop” mentality. and mercilessly criticized market regulators. Then he disappeared from the public scene for three months, presumably besieged by the regime of Xi Jinping, the most intolerant of affairs in recent decades.

To rise to power, Xi campaigned against corruption, while China’s staggering growth left millions on the sidelines. But his detractors have also underlined how the fight against crime -especially in the bowels of the PC- he covered up his attempts to get rid of heavyweight rivals like Ma. Adored by young Chinese students, who look to him as a role model, this entrepreneur has created a huge empire, with 120,000 employees and a stock market value of $621 billion in 2021.

The Chinese regime makes use of these capitalists and, at the same time, is wary of the use they can make of their power, a true poison for any top-down structure. According to the magazine Forbes, at least six big tycoons have disappeared in recent years over disputes with Beijing. In 2015, the founder of Fosun Group, Guo Guangchang, disappeared for days. He was followed by Xiao Jianhua, one of China’s richest people, who was jailed in 2017 for corruption. Michael Caster, author of “The People’s Republic of the Disappeared,” told the network abc that “there are easily several hundred” of beleaguered businessmen.

Although the opening began with Deng in the 1980s, it was under the rule of Jiang Zemin (1993-2003) that the PC opened its doors to businessmen in a unprecedented genetic mutation of the nomenclature. The party, body and soul of the Chinese regime, then moved away from its peasant and worker roots and embraced the middle and upper classes. The data is telling: when Hu Jintao replaced Zeming in 2003, 30% of businessmen had PC cards; 17% were elected to the National Assembly (the Chinese Parliament) and 25% hold public office of various kinds.

Ma also joins the pg, but his is only a formal gesture. Despite her famous speech, she belonged to a category that popular humor at the time christened as the “deaf-mutes”, capitalists who choose a low profile, do not talk about politics or pretend to ignore it. In self-defense, the “deaf-mutes” apply in practice a famous proverb since the time of Confucius: “A rich man fears fame as a pig fears fattening”.